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Telstra denies Catholic pressure forced it to abandon marriage equality campaign

Ahlevah

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Now, this is creative, even if it is disingenuous:

Australia's largest telco, Telstra, says it has abandoned its public campaign for marriage equality to allow clear air during the proposed plebiscite - not because of pressure from the Catholic church.

However, when asked directly about the influence of the church on Telstra's decision, a spokesman declined to say whether pressure behind the scenes had persuaded the telco to back down.

Telstra gave its support to Australian Marriage Equality in full-page advertisements published in newspapers last year. The company's logo appeared alongside those of dozens of other big Australian corporations.


Read more: Telstra denies Catholic pressure forced it to abandon marriage equality campaign

So here's one company that supported marriage equality, at least until its chestnuts were put to the fire and it decided it believed in democracy more than principle.
 
It was totally from pressure of the Catholic Church. Apparently the company is willing to capitulate to some bigots.
 
Let me see if I get this right - the company in question here had the right to say what they wanted when it was in agreement with marriage equality, but they do not have the right to say what they want now that they are not fighting for marriage equality even though they have not come out against it? The term fair weather friend comes to mind regarding those that liked them but now do not.

I support marriage equality in the US. However, I am not a citizen of Australia, and they have the right to self determination, and given that they have a plebiscite on this issue coming up it would appear that they are demonstrating a democratic way to come to a determination. Here in the US, we had the issue resolved by the courts given that a number of government entities within the US had "outlawed" SSM (like the plebiscite we had here in North Carolina that amended the state's constitution defining a marriage as between one man and one woman) which went against the protections of the US Constitution. The US Constitution does not apply to any other country, even Australia. We cannot impose our values, opinions, or views upon another country. If they have this plebiscite, and their constitution allows for whatever outcome results from the vote, then their people will have spoken, and those that disagree can move to a country where they feel that their lives are not disregarded and their opinions disrespected.
 
Let me see if I get this right - the company in question here had the right to say what they wanted when it was in agreement with marriage equality, but they do not have the right to say what they want now that they are not fighting for marriage equality even though they have not come out against it?
I don't see anyone suggesting the company has no right to change their policy but equally, other people have a right to question their stated reasons for doing so, especially if that may have involved private pressure from religious leaders.
 
Why would we care what some corporate entity thinks?
 
I don't see anyone suggesting the company has no right to change their policy but equally, other people have a right to question their stated reasons for doing so, especially if that may have involved private pressure from religious leaders.

They have a right ask the question, they DO NOT have a right to an answer.
 
They have a right ask the question, they DO NOT have a right to an answer.
Of course. The problem is that if they don't give an answer, the ones people guess could be much worse than the truth.
 
Of course, we can avoid the cost of a same sex marriage plebiscite in Australia by simply leaving the Marriage Act as it is - no cost there.....and parliament has already voted on he Marriage Act about 10 years ago and it passed with the support of Labor politicians, so the matter should be done and dusted. However, the same sex marriage people want the change and are facilitating such an intense push that it requires an expensive solution to resolve. They cause the problem and then claim to be part of the solution. Their suffering that they claim to have is all self-inflicted. To claim that it is a human right is also a nonsense because marriage is already available to gays – it's just that they must marry the opposite sex. Marriage is therefore a virtue, not a right. It is not listed as a right with the United Nations and same sex marriage was never considered necessary or desirable in the history of marriage in Australia until only the past few years after John Howard orchestrated a definition in the Marriage Act. If marriage is so desirable by same sex people, then it is vital to realise what made it so desirable in the first place (that being a primary commitment between a man and a woman to raise children as a family unit), but the same sex marriage advocates totally ignore this millenia-old definition and want the definition changed to make marriage solely a “relationship/sexual” gimmick (….what....all those past civilisations got it wrong because we are the “enlightened, smart, progressive” ones?....how arrogant and blind can people get by trashing marriage in this way?). There is no “marriage equality” because they leave out ALL the various marriage “options” (such as polygamy, etc).. There is therefore no legal, historical or rational basis to call marriage a human right or to redefine it to include same sex people – so that leads to a question of what are the other agendas are in play with the SSM issue? It is certainly the formal severing of marriage from parenthood, pure and simple - the rights of children are ignored to serve the selfish desires of the SSM parents. Plus it is a direct attack on the Biblical teaching of God creating man and woman in His own image and likeness to become “one flesh” as Christ is the bridegroom and the Church is His bride – same sex marriage is completely opposite to this Biblical concept.

Sometimes the truth hurts. Exposing “anything-goes” sex programs like the “Safe Schools” program (more accurately, it is the “unSafe Schools” program) in Australia and exposing the same sex agenda is a good thing – we are exposing the broad sinister agendas that have nothing to do with “equality”. “love”, “tolerance”, “non-discrimination”, etc. There is also the “Building Better Relationships” program promoting sex-depraved immorality as being normal . So for some people to try to undermine the family unit and create the illusion of “moral relativism” (that is, anything-goes-and-ignore-the-consequences) such as the same sex marriage people are doing is creating discussion and critical thinking. The same sex agenda is being exposed for what it is: humanist/atheist social engineering. The result is that the decent people of society are mobilising against it and the more the SSM people push their cause, the more opposition that are creating. They are scared of a plebiscite because they know that they will lose it. The more analysis, the better. For example, is our biological sex determined by nature or nurture?….it’s obviously the former because of our chromosomes. Is our gender different to our sex?….nope!….it’s only the subjective, post-modernist person of the “progressive” gay mindset who thinks that redefining words can somehow change reality. Since when is “progress” always a good thing anyhow? It’s all just tricky word-smithing and targeting the naive young children of our society (without parental approval) because they are easy pickings. Make-believe “medical” reports just facilitate the illusion. That's right!.....”The Emperor has no clothes”. Sexual orientation other than our biological, chromosome-determined sex is all about choice: we all can choose to be the way we are created (the natural biological reality) or choose to be something different (fluid “whatever-you-feel-like” gender sexuality ) that is contrary to nature – the latter leads to an unhealthy, destructive, mixed up lifestyle. So blaming opponents of the “progressive” fluid sexuality won’t stop the confusion, anxiety, depression (suicide?) of GLBTIQ people…..it’s their chosen lifestyle that causes it. All the health warnings associated with their lifestyle are ignored thereby creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of hurt, destruction…..and possibly death.
 
The gay agenda isn't trying to "live and let live". In fact, they are targeting every one in every way possible, especially through the public service and more specifically, indoctrinating our naive children and young adults with filthy sexualisation because they are easy pickings without parental knowledge - programs like the "unSafe Schools" and the "Building Better Relationships" (the latter designed to make out that sex-driven, one-night stands, gay or otherwise, is ok with all the STDs, immorality and soul/marriage/decency destroying attributes that go with it). I picked up a magazine in the local fish-and-chip shop to read while I was waiting for my chips to cook and I get filthy adverts of sex-driving gays/lesbians plastered in my face - how can we avoid all the filth?....no chance of that. This is why it is so destructive and deceitful to think that the gay agenda is "live and let live"....it is not. All the propaganda slogans are lies and the gender fluidity is a farce all based on population control and hedonistic humanism/atheism. If you want Australia to turn into a social sewer, then this is how you do it.

Brow-beating Telstra and the church for not sliding down the social sewer path doesn't make them wrong....to the contrary, these groups (along with Greer) are exposing the bleeding obvious flaws of the LGBTIQ2A+ agenda that is currently being concealed to the public. Plus, we can now see the intolerant aggression that goes along with same sex marriage when you oppose it. Nasty stuff. It also shows that there are no good reasons to be a "progressive" because it just means you turn into a slanderous, rude person who pushes hedonistic humanism to the detriment of society (not helping your cause at all) - since when is "progress" always a good thing anyhow?

Also, there is no homophobia…..just a different opinion. People who disagree with same sex relationships simply disagree, nothing more. Calling it homophobia is a cop out for not having a legitimate reason to have a same sex relationship and so to silence your critics, you use emotive name calling. The whole name calling stunt has worn out and people are not put off by being called homophobia, hate speecher or bigot because name calling is an acknowledgement that you have lost the argument. If equality is what the same sex marriage advocates want, then equality for all types of marriage would be allowed. To limit their marriage re-definition to only include “two consenting adults” is being unequal to the people wanting other forms of marriage – so it is quite a big lie to claim that SSM is “marriage equality”. If you want to save money on a “wasteful” plebiscite, then simply leave the Marriage Act as it is – no cost involved then!…..but the same sex lobby pushing for a change are creating the cost.
 
What we are seeing is the "cult" of LGBTIQ2A+ form where once you are in, you can never leave - Telstra has been caught out and many other businesses/individuals/politicians are going to get caught out too - it's the "Hotel California" scenario: "You can check-out any time you like, But you can never leave!". The intense, frenzied (bordering on hysterical) emotion that the pro-gay advocates are displaying when they don't get their way coupled with their do-only-what-we-tell-you-or-else dogma is causing this cultish phenomena to develop in the extreme. Once you are in their clutches, their web, their strangle-hold and then you realise that their intentions are not as they seem, any back-tracking of support (or even becoming a “passive” supporter)....wow!....are you in for it. There's no love or tolerance then from them, just plain hateful, malicious blackmail and bullying. The fun-coloured rainbow flags and ever-raining glitterati suddenly turns to bristling name-calling, abuse, threats, intimidation and flexing muscles, We can now start to see the ugly underbelly of the same sex lobby movement! Persecution is starting and will inevitably follow in all forms as the years pass and they thrust their agenda on everyone in every way possible..Just like the man who unfortunately got bashed at Newtown and the same sex people instantly want militant homosexuals to come out of the woodwork to retaliate?….like “Bash Back” in America?…..they take the law in their own hands without due process – how do they know that it was an attack based on homosexuality?…..sure, the media reports it as such and most likely the media is wrong (as is usually the case). Talk about politicised, emotional reactions without facts. The attack could have been for a thousand other reasons and it just happened that the recipient is a homosexual. I have already seen malicious attacks occurring as a result of false media reporting and so I know first-hand what the gay activists can do.
 
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